PBA Tournament of Champions

First, no matter what the format is, the PBA Tournament of Champions (TOC) is a great event. I am honored to be able to participate in this event as a PBA Senior Champion, and I completely understand the views of those who feel that neither I nor anyone else who has not won a regular PBA tour title should be allowed into the field. However, the eligibility rules allowed me to participate, and I was not disappointed!

I was REALLY pressing during the Champions first qualifying round. I didn’t make it out of this round last year and I was NOT about to let that happen again this year. I managed to reset my mental framework during the break between blocks and bowl well the second block to get into the elite field.

I had a really nice reaction through the elite qualifying rounds and mostly used a Roto Grip Outlaw. This allowed me to get the ball through the front part of the lane and still “read” the mid-lane well and not over-hook at the back. There were a couple of times when the fronts hooked too much and I need to go to a pearl, but not too often. At the Red Rock, the low end of the center hooks earlier and stronger than the high end of the center, so I compensated with speed and hand position changes.

At the end of the first 5 games, I was in good position in 23^rd. I dropped to 33^rd after the second round as I was not as sharp mentally and didn’t make shots as consistently as I should have. I up a little after the 3^rd round and stayed around the cut number all the way through. After 19 games, I was at +488, and there were 4-5 people around me that were within 20 pins of me. I knew I had to beat at least two of them to get into the round of 36 and get a check (with last cash at $3,600). I had stayed relaxed all the way through this part of the tournament because I had achieved my primary goal, but I was by no means satisfied with just making it to this point and being competitive. I wanted a check! I stayed relaxed through the last game and bowled one of the best games of my career, shooting 267 to get a check and move on.

The round of 36 was a new chapter, with no pinfall carryover and the addition of the 11 current season champions. Most of these 11 players were the highest rev-rate players on tour, and this caused the lanes to break down a lot differently. This caused the left side to also play much differently, and I missed the quick transition that left my ball choice only being good for knocking down 9 pins. Dropping immediately to 36^th was a blessing in disguise because it forced me to be bold in my choice of ball and line. I went to a weak hybrid and cut the hook down more and increased forward roll, speed and loft to combat the hook in the front part of the lane. This allowed me to recover from -32 to +146 by the end of the block and leave me 50 out of the cut to the top 18. In the 2^nd round I moved to within 9 of the cut score, but then hit the “death pair” which had knocked both Mike Scroggins and Patrick Allen out of contention and it got me as well. I struggled with the reaction during this block as well as physically struggling with my grip on the ball due to the sheer number of games (52 this week + practice = about 60-65 games). I was not able to figure out how to handle the low part of the center until the last game. That was enough to move me up a couple of spots at the end and bring my check up to $4150, so that was satisfying.

Overall, the opportunity to bowl against a tremendous field of PBA champions was very, very satisfying, and one that I will remember. I was able to hold my own at age 55 against the best in the world. I also had a LOT of fun! Who could ask for more!

USBC Open

In the USBC Open I got a chance to practice on the Showcase lanes for an hour. There were differing opinions on how useful this practice was, but in my opinion this practice was INVALUABLE and probably made a 100 pin difference in my all-events total. Our team has 3 left-handers and 7 right-handers. We tried specifically breaking down the right lane by taking the ball up the boards from 5-6-7 to about 6-7-8 at the break point, and letting everyone do whatever they wanted to do on the left lane. The right lane broke down better, but the “hang spot” down the lane does not go away. The best description I’ve heard of the pattern is that it plays like a short version of chameleon.

The characteristics of the pattern are that the mid-lane hooks, the end of the pattern is pretty tight due to the amount of buff at the end of the pattern, and the back ends are really hooking on the fresh. This is exaggerated on the Showcase lanes, since these lanes have far less play than the lanes that are in play. New lanes have a LOT of friction where the oil is light or non-existent and smooth out as you get more and more play.

So, why is the pattern so different this year? Yes, the USBC did shorten and flatten the pattern a little this year in an attempt to slow down teams from just burning a spot and opening up the lane. However, most of the difference is that these lanes are NEW. The lanes in the stadium (where it seems like we have been bowling for an eternity) have a LOT of play. You could put last year’s pattern down in the lanes in Baton Rouge and they would play tougher (although not as tough as this year’s pattern).

My recommendations for this pattern are to start with a medium solid with surface to smooth out the pattern until the pattern blends out. If your team gets left of 15 before the first game is over, you’re dead because the hang spot comes into play too much and you can’t control the pocket with anything. If your team stays right of 12 (right side) for the first game and migrates more slowly by bumping to slightly weaker equipment you have a good change of minimizing the effects of the hang at the end of the pattern.

On the left you can stay with some surface and stay between 5 and 10 for most of team event. Again moving in too quickly will cause the hang spot to get too much in play and make it difficult to control the pocket. In my case I used a Roto Grip Dagger (weaker symmetric hybrid) with a 1000 surface to control the pocket and smooth out the lane.

In doubles and singles it really, really depends on who you follow. In most cases you will need to move inside quickly on the right as the medium volume pattern dissipates quickly. This will call for smoothly sanded to polished weaker equipment). On the left you will want to go to weaker equipment with a lightly sanded surface and try to stay left if at all possible.

Senior Masters Match Play

My first match was against Don Blatchford. I started out with a good reaction, finishing ahead 221-200 after game 1. In game 2, I chopped the 3 off the 3-6 (how I don't know) in the middle of the game, followed by ringing the head pin around the 7 on the washout. This happened about the same time as Don's reaction got pretty good, and he struck out for 235 to my 173. I couldn't catch up the last game, as Don shot about 690 to my 610.

The second match was against hall of famer Dave Soutar. Dave had a horrible reaction on the left lane and I didn't have a very good reaction on that lane either. All the left lanes on the low end hooked very early, and it was a battle to get the ball down the lane. However, I had to stay with a ball strong enough to get off the break point and not sail through it. With the help of 3 washout conversions, I survived 571-549.

The third match was against Kent Wagner, who I faced in this tournament last year. I was still on the low end of the house, where I really didn't have a good reaction. By late in the first game I realized Kent had a pretty good reaction, so I needed to make a ball change to keep up. I went to a stronger solid, moved right to go 20-10 (which is really steep for me). This worked until the end of the 2nd game, when the head oil went away. I tried to fight through it, but a couple of opens later I had to make another ball change. Down 95 after 2, I finally went to a weaker pearl and got back to a decent reaction. Kent's reaction vanished, and in the 9th frame I was clean with a 4-bagger and still had a chance. However I was a little short in the 9th, leaving a 2-4-7 to dash my chances.

This was a really good tournament - I was able to play steep angles deep on the lane with confidence. This is the best my armswing has felt in a very long time, and I'm looking forward to the next 3 stops.

Senior Masters Day 3

Today was just about hanging around my position to get a good draw. Finished at +138 (I was +104 from day 2). I'm getting more comfortable with the ball reaction, which has been about 16-21 at the arrows out to about 10.

Senior Masters Day 2

Day 2 was a much better experience. Once I moved deeper on the lane (started at about 15) I had a very good reaction. Shot 287 the first game, then maintained a good reaction through the first 4 games. Every time the ball "checked" (i.e. made an early move) I quickly made another move to the right. Went from -23 to +104 and moved from 64th to 11th.

Senior Masters Day 1

Frustrating day - I felt like I had an +80 look and ended up at -23. I just couldn't get a good feel for the shape of the reaction. In the end, I was trying to go too soft on speed and I was trying to allow the ball to get a little too far left at the break point. My initial look with the Victory Road seems to be great, but I really didn't make good shots the first game, and ended up shooting 181 on an easy 220 pair. I went fishing the second game and shot 161. After putting myself in that hole, I bumped down to a Tropical Heat and shot 216 with a couple of really good shots in the 10th. I was hoping to stay with this ball after making the turn, but the ball wanted to stand up the wrong way. I went looking for another reaction, but the Virtual Energy was a little too early in the mid-lane and lost too much energy. The first shot struck but the next shot was a 3-6-7, so I went to the Dagger, which got down the lane very well. I doubled but then made a bad shot and left the greek church for 183. The last game I tried to stay with the Dagger but I had enough push that it was a little weak. I went back to the Victory Road, but I didn't get the ball as far to the right (about 9-10 at the break rather than about 6) and stayed a little firmer, made good shots and ended up with 236.

Now I move on to 2 blocks of fresh, so I'm planning to take the lesson from this block and try to keep the ball at 8-10 at the break instead of 6-7 on the fresh. I still want to try to play a little right (about 12-16) with something medium and not more than about 2000 surface so that I can get the ball to push enough to store energy.

USBC Masters Days 1 & 2

Got off to a good start at the Senior Masters. Shot +37 day 1 and +25 for day 2. Playing the edge of the OB with Brunswick Wild Card drilled 25 x 3 3/4 x 70. I wanted to let the ball burn up energy and not create too much change of direction at the back end. This worked well both days as I used a One drilled 15 x 3 7/8 x 70 and a 60 x 4 1/2 x 70 Mission the first day, as well as an old RXS drilled pin ring with about a 45 deg. This combination of balls allowed me to stay outside 12 and play the part of the lane that played a little tighter, which gave me a more consistent look the first two days.

Now for the mental part. After 2 weeks of getting beat up on the lanes after I let another player get into my head (and my confidence), and having no chance at the Senior U.S. Open (there were 0 left-handers in the top 24), the lefties have a good look this week. I have finally been able to just bowl and not worry about my swing or release or how far plus or minus I am. I have stayed patient, taken each shot, each pair as it comes and I've made the adjustments, bowled my best, and moved on. The 180 games have not bothered me - I've done my best and taken the result. I would like to stay in this frame of mind, now that I have it back. Work on your game in practice - when it's time to score: JUST BOWL.